Seattle detectives investigating slaying at West Seattle park

Published 10:00 pm, Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Seattle police respond Wednesday morning to an apparent slaying at Roxhill Park in West Seattle.

Seattle police respond Wednesday morning to an apparent slaying at Roxhill Park in West Seattle.

Photo: Levi Pulkkinen/seattlepi.com

Seattle detectives investigating slaying at West Seattle park

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Seattle homicide detectives are investigating an apparent slaying at a West Seattle park.

Just after 7:30 a.m., a walker passing through Roxhill Park on the Longfellow Creek Legacy Trail spotted a man prone in the brush just off the gravel path.

Concerned that the man did not appear to be moving, the walker called for police, said Detective Mark Jamieson, a Seattle police spokesman. Officers and medics arriving at the scene immediately determined the man had died.

"It is believed to be a homicide," said Jamieson, standing near a children's play area just outside the closed zone of the park.

Jamieson said officers quickly came to that conclusion based on the condition of the body. He declined to elaborate on the extent or cause of the dead man's injuries as the investigation was in its early stages.

Homicide detectives and crime scene investigators were joined by a King County senior deputy prosecutor in examining the area where the man was found. Gang detectives were not called to the scene.

Investigators hope to determine when the man was killed. Jamieson said the man's body was not hidden and would have been visible to passers-by on the park trail.

Members of a group of neighborhood residents gathered nearby said the park often remains busy late into the night.

While a large section of the park remained cordoned off for hours after the man's body was found, much of the grassy neighborhood park remained open and in use. Children and parents played while investigators continued their work a hundred yards away.